Category Archives: Pitches and troughs

“The c*** in the glasses…”

PITCHES AND TROUGHS.  100 BEST STORIES.

This is a  ‘trough’ story of epic proportion. It still resonates in the corridors of 80 Charlotte St, the London office of Saatchi & Saatchi, some fifteen or so years later. This version is authenticated  by its hero David Kershaw, now heading up M & C Saatchi, but at the time of our story managing Saatchi & Saatchi.

The setting a large conference room . The players.  On one side the senior marketeers from BT, then as now, one of the UK’s largest advertisers.  On the other, the agency’s star team pitching their creative campaign.

Halfway through the presentation it became clear that things were not going as well as hoped. This prompted Kershaw, a man of both eloquence and erudition, to scribble a note to one of his colleagues. It read “the c*** in the glasses looks like trouble”

Before the end of the meeting the agency was asked to leave the room before returning for a summing up. The note was not mentioned and only subsequently, via the pages of Marketing Week, did it become clear the words had indeed  found their mark.  Perhaps not surprisingly, the agency did not win the business.

However this story has a happy ending. Some months later BT invited  the agency to pitch for a further part of their business. Kershaw, deciding discretion the better part of valour, stood himself down from the presentation.  This meant he missed the BT team all of whom turned up wearing glasses.

And Saatchis won the pitch!

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Pitching in protest. That Black Power salute.

PITCHES AND TROUGHS. THE BEST 100.

Last Wednesday, unecessarily late, on BBC4 there was a brilliant documentary, Black Power Salute. It went behind the scenes to explore the action and motivation that led to the moment when Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black gloved fists at the Mexico Olympics in 1968. One of the 20th century’s most powerful, enduring images.

Black Power Salute

As the programme spells out this was not a spontaneous gesture. It was, even though not described as such, a brilliantly conceived and stunningly executed pitch, an act of persuasion. It expressed the resentment of black people at that time and fuelled the momentum of civil rights.

I was in the stadium watching, having competed without success in my event a few days earlier. The effect on the ‘ live’ audience was surprisngly muted. A gloved hand has little visual impact at a distance of 70 or so meters. Smith and Carlos knew this. They were targetting the worldwide TV audience whose screens framed, in close up, the men and their raised fists. The iconic image.

Muhammad Ali, the ‘greatest’ pitcher of all time, called it the ‘single most courageous act of the 20th century’. It could be, but for me what is truly astonishing is the way they handled the physical and emotional demands of reaching the final and then having to win. Not for the medals but for the opportunity to protest.

For us lesser mortals, a reminder that a picture is worth a thousand words.

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David “no-notes” Cameron at Blackpool

PITCHES AND TROUGHES. 100 BEST STORIES.

Last week in Glasgow, in the lead up to the by-election, David Cameron delivered what has been described as a taboo-breaking “moral leadership” speech . As reported it was a speech of real substance, with strong uneqivocal messages, for example “….we prefer moral neutrality, a refusal to make judgements about what is good and bad behaviour, right and wrong behaviour”.

It contained powerful messages which will register and which will drive the Tory agenda. However it is not this speech but his speech at the Tory Party conference in Blackpool in autumn 2005 that merits being included in the 100 Best Pitch Stories.

It was a five-way pitch. The two favourites going in  were the big beast Ken Clarke, an experienced and  fluent platorm speaker, and, in the lead, the bruiser David Davis, (now somewhat bruised by his by-election activity?) The other three were Liam Fox, Malcolm Rifkind and David Cameron. 

All five spoke for roughly the same amount time, to the same audience of party faithful and no one can remember what any of them said!

Quite simply the political landscape changed on that day. Not because of what Cameron said but  because of the way he said it.

 

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Aliens. “Jaws in space”.

PITCHES AND TROUGHS. 100 BEST STORIES.

Recently, I was involved in an informal rehearsal with a team preparing to pitch a powerful concept to go into production.  There was no doubt that it was a strong concept.  However, in the course of the rehearsal it became clear that lack of a single minded and compelling expression of the idea  would hinder the sell.

This experience reminded me of a great pitch story that I  cannot personally verify ,but it is so good it has to be true!

This is the story of how the creators pitched the concept for the film Aliens to the studio bosses. 

They said think of it as ” Jaws in space”.

if anyone knows of examples anywhere near as good, please tell…

 

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London 2012. A triumph of emotion.

PITCHES AND TROUGHS. 100 BEST STORIES.

The battle to host the 2012 Olympics was the pitch of the decade. The general sense of euphoria then felt at London’s win is now somewhat muted as the pitched cost of £2 billion plus is now around £9 million and rising!   Nevertheless, it was a brilliant pitch and one that has been written up by many, including an excellent chapter in Jon Steel’s book Perfect Pitch.

From a long list of nine, five candidate cities, New York, Moscow, Madrid , Paris and London, invested many millions developing their technical submissions (the exaggerated equivalent of the pitch document). All five were approved by the scrutineers.  Paris was assumed to be ahead at this stage but in reality any one of the five could have won in the live pitch in Singapore. This is where the right to be a “Best 100″ story starts.

How did London win the hearts of the 110 members of the IOC, voting anonomously, average age late sixties?

Shortly after the announcement,  I asked Alan Pascoe, a  deputy chairman of the Bid team, what  was the single factor that, in his opinion, lead to success?  His immediate reply ,” we kept on and on asking ourselves the question, from the individual IOC members viewpoint,-What’s in it for me?”

The answer was not about the delivery of a successful Games. It was all about the benefit of the Olympics in terms of its legacy, particularly among  the young.  It was this insight that determined the winning strategy in a pitch which demonstated that London , and the people running the bid, understood the IOC best.

Many elements during the pitch reinforced this insight. However, the most astonishing dramatisation of the strategy came in the video. The four other cities, using  world famous directors, showcased their cities and stadia in all their glory.  As you would expect.

 The London film did not show the city at all. What it did show was heart rending footage of young children, in different parts of the world, nervously competing and ‘dreaming’ of taking part in the Olympics in London . The final words over ” To make an athlete takes millions of children around the world inspired to choose sport”.

A few months ago at a dinner I asked Seb Coe to sum up the success. His response ” it was  all down to the emotional connection”

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